The invention herein pertains to jalousie assemblies as are used for building windows and doors and particularly pertains to a jalousie assembly having pairs of pivotable panels which are tandemly arranged and independently operated.
Jalousie type windows and doors have long been used and remain quite popular in tropical climates. The advantages of such jalousie assemblies is that the horizontal panels can be selectively opened and closed to allow breezes for example, from the ocean to ventilate and cool the building without the necessity of air conditioning. This is of particular importance in areas where electricity is extremely expensive or unavailable. Jalousie assemblies generally have one vertical column of panels with each panel formed of a relatively narrow, single glass pane. A typical window may have three or four such panes arranged in this vertical column. The panels are operated by a handle and gears which are manually rotated to open or close the panels as required.
In recent years improvements have been developed such as shown in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,716 which provides an awning or jalousie type security window having dual panes of glass which are rigidly connected and operate as a single panel.
Even though such dual pane jalousie panels provide increased strength and protection, various disadvantages remain. For example, the panel must be completely transparent in order for the user to see through the window when it is closed. In addition, the amount of ventilation received through the window is related to the single panel opening. Also, typical awning or jalousie windows that face the sun require curtains or blinds to shade the window during bright, sunny days.
In view of the disadvantages and problems associated with conventional jalousie type windows and doors, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a jalousie assembly which can be used in either windows or doors and includes pairs of tandemly positioned panels in which the front and rear panels can be operated (rotated) independently.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a jalousie assembly in which tandem panels can be formed from different materials.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a jalousie assembly in which the amount of ventilation can be precisely regulated by the independently operated front and rear panels.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a jalousie assembly which includes a pair of operators for independent adjustment of the front and rear panels.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a jalousie assembly which includes tandemly arranged panels. A tandem pair includes a front panel and a rear panel with, in the preferred embodiment, the front panel constructed of an opaque material such as aluminum and the rear panel formed of glass. The jalousie assembly may be used in, for example, a window having a single column of several panel pairs. One, two, three or more panel pairs may be vertically aligned with the panels being selectively sized. The jalousie assembly could also be used in doors with eight, ten or more panel pairs, vertically aligned, with said door panels usually shorter than panels used in windows.
A mechanical operator allows all the front panels to be pivoted simultaneously, whereas a second operator with handle will pivot the rear panels simultaneously. Thus, in cold weather the front opaque panels can be fully opened to allow sunlight into a building with the rear transparent panels closed to maintain a comfortable interior temperature.
Each pair of front and rear panels are operated from a central axle composed of staggered, axially aligned front and rear panel axle sections. Thus, as one operator is turned the axle sections connected to one panel are rotated while the axle sections of the other panel remain dormant until the second operator connected thereto is rotated. A contiguous cylindrical support shaft passes through the center of the axle sections of the tandem pair of panels to maintain the axle sections in axial alignment.